The head of the union representing AT&T workers in Connecticut said Frontier Communications officials have told him the Stamford-based company plans to relocate an undetermined number of jobs out-of-state if Frontier’s deal to acquire AT&T’s landline phone service and Uverse television product is approved by state and federal regulators.

William Henderson, president of Hamden-based Local 1298 of the Communications Workers of America, said Friday that Frontier executives told him the jobs would be relocated to less-expensive parts of the country such as Florida or the Midwest. The workers the company plans to move are support personnel for the field technicians who service <URL destination="http://www.nhregister.com/general-news/20131217/att-sells-connecticut-landline-service-to-frontier-communications">the landline phone and Uverse networks that Frontier is acquiring from AT&T for $2 billion.

</URL>Union officials learned of the company’s plans during a stormy meeting with Frontier executives Friday. Local 1298 represents about 2,200 workers in the AT&T business units that are being sold to Frontier.

“We need to grow jobs in Connecticut, not lose them,” Henderson said, adding the union is stepping up its efforts to get regulators to block the AT&T-Frontier deal.

Cecilia McKenney, executive vice president of human resources and administrative services at Frontier, denied the company has any plans to eliminate jobs in Connecticut if the deal is approved.

“In fact, we are planning to grow our workforce in the state,” McKenney said in a statement. “For the first eight weeks after the acquisition closes, approximately 75 percent of AT&T’s call center employees will be in training to learn Frontier’s systems. During the eight-week period of training, calls for Connecticut will be re-routed temporarily to a variety of call centers across the country.”

McKenney said once the training has been completed, all Connecticut call volume will return to call centers in the state.

In reaction to the union’s concerns, a group of about 50 Connecticut lawmakers sent a letter Friday to Maggie Wilderotter, chairwoman and chief executive officer of Frontier, urging her to clarify the company’s “expectations and commitments to the residents of our state.”

“We want to be sure that AT&T’s sale of its wireline network will not adversely affect the quality of service provided to Connecticut residents or diminish the number of telecommunications jobs in our state,” the letter says in part. “We want to be certain that the sale of the network to your company truly works for the people of Connecticut.”

Henderson said union leaders will travel to Washington next week to meet with Connecticut’s legislative delegation in an effort to get them to bring pressure on the Federal Communications Commission. The FCC, along with Connecticut’s Public Utilities Regulatory Authority, must approve the deal before it can be completed.